Leinster 27 Munster 13
Rumours of this fixture’s demise appear premature on this evidence. A remarkable and increasingly absorbed and loud crowd of 45,436 were kept entertained from first minute to last by another vibrant blue and red clash in this rivalry.
A depleted Munster gave it the good fight, even taking the lead early in the second half when reduced to 14 men by their second yellow card, and were hammering away entering the last 10 minutes with the game still in the balance.
Munster’s set-piece was good, well until Andrew Porter came on anyway, and their scramble defence typified their defiance. Their attack was well short of Leinster’s, although when on the front foot Joey Carbery and Jack Crowley gave theme two playmakers and many of the young guns, such as Diarmuid Barron, had big displays. They can take much from this game, yet in the heel of the hunt this was Leinster’s eighth win over Munster in a row in this competition, and 13th in the last 14.
What’s more, you always sensed they would, even when coughing up the ball four times inside the Munster 22 and twice being held over the line in an unusually wasteful first half.
Leinster were far from at full-strength themselves, yet there was better shape, oomph, and quicker ball to their attacks, and they had much the better launch plays. Scott Penny revelled in starting this fixture in the absence of Josh van der Flier alongside the excellent Caelan Doris.
Luke McGrath’s all-action display earned him the man of the match, Johnny Sexton pulled the strings, and outside the uber strong Robbie Henshaw-Garry Ringrose axis, all of their makeshift young back three caught the eye.
Leinster’s standards are just on a different level and they remain the benchmark. They also now sit top of the table, with six wins from six, on 28 points out of a possible 30, while Munster remain in the bottom half on 11 points.
The late withdrawal of Tadhg Furlong, with Michael Ala’alatoa promoted from the bench and Thomas Clarkson called up to the replacements, meant that Leinster were without six of their 17-strong contingent named by Ireland head coach Andy Farrell in midweek. It also meant that 18 of that 37-man squad were inactive this weekend, a fortnight out from the showdown here with the Springboks.
In a curious first half, Leinster were quickly into their rapid-fire, high-tempo game when Carbery had to dive for a loose pass by Thomas Ahern and Penny won a penalty in the jackal deep inside the Munster 22.
However, rather setting the tone for a first period in which Leinster were unusually profligate and Munster wonderfully defiant, Jason Jenkins was held up over the line.
To the shock of the majority in the crowd, Sexton pulled a penalty from just inside the 22 wide, and although Leinster kept pounding away and making inroads – Ringrose stepping Dan Goggin, Jimmy O’Brien latching on to a bouncing ball after Crowley missed Sexton’s bomb – knock-ons by Cian Healy, Sexton released the pressure.
Munster had breakdown issues in their two entries into the Leinster 22 before Carbery also missed a straight penalty from inside 40 metres, although he atoned from closer range when Henshaw was offside.
Ironically, Leinster came closest to scoring after Keynan Knox took a lovely line on to Carbery’s flat skip pass but knocked on when forcing an offload, Ciarán Frawley dummying and breaking clear when Leinster moved the turnover ball wide only for Crowley to pick off the inside pass for McGrath, only for Dan Sheehan to repeat Knox’s mistake.
However, the latter had caught James Ryan on the side of his head with his forearm in a clearout and was binned. Leinster opted for a scrum, obliging Munster to sacrifice John Hodnett in bringing on Dave Kilcoyne. Their shortage of tightheads led to Jeremy Loughman switching sides.
He did so impressively, Leinster’s scrum standing up, but Henshaw and Doris generated go-forward and Penny burrowed over with his trademark low centre of gravity and leg power, albeit given a significant shunt by Ala’alatoa. Sexton converted.
Even so, the seven-man scrum won a penalty against Healy, and in Loughman’s favour for Carbery to go up the line. And when Doris came in from the side, Carbery made it a one-point game.
Henshaw chased Sexton’s clever short restart and Crowley couldn’t gather, putting Leinster on the front foot again. Frawley took a lovely line, as did Jamie Osborne before taking Conor Murray’s tackle to offload for O’Brien. Had Healy not gone for the skip pass off the recycle, which cannoned off Osborne, he’d have surely scored off a softer pass.
But Munster were again reduced to 10 men when Jean Kleyn jumped to block an attempted chip on the counter by Osborne, and caught him in the head with his elbow as he returned to earth. The only question was the colour of the card, and the officials opted for a yellow.
It was actually so clumsy it had to be accidental, but the lively Osborne had to be replaced by Rob Russell for a HIA.
Twice Leinster went for Munster’s throat by going to the corner against the Kleyn-less Munster defensive maul, and twice they were held up. As the second time was over the line when Jack O’Donoghue and Murray prevented Sheehan from grounding the ball, this left the interval score 7-6, the half ending as it started.
All things considered, that was definitely a result for Leinster, even if Munster still had another eight minutes to face down to 14 men on the resumption.
Far from hanging on, O’Donoghue latched on to a loose pass from McGrath, hacked downfield, collared O’Brien and helped win a turnover. Knox, Gavin Coombes and Hodnett carried hard, before Murray skipped the next pod of would-be carries to hit Gavin Coombes and he floated a lovely pass to the edge for his cousin Liam to finish and even narrow the angle for Carbery to convert.
Well, well, well. Some effort with 14 men.
But Leinster responded in trademark style. Porter made an immediate impact with a turnover and carry, before Murray was pinged for offside. The Munster supporters, suddenly louder, were not happy with that marginal call, and neither was Murray.
This time the maul was so tight you couldn’t have thrown a duvet over it, before Sheehan broke blind and dummied to McGrath before beating Murray on his inside shoulder. Sexton converted.
A shower of rain made the ball slippery and added to the fun, the game now vibrantly alive as Barron made a big break up the middle from Loughman’s lovely pass, only for Penny to do likewise off the ensuing turnover.
Sexton restored some order with a three-pointer when Hodnett was penalised for not rolling away and then turned the screw with a scrum penalty to the corner after Munster mucked up a lineout steal.
The drive off Doris’s catch again looked perfectly set up for Sheehan at the back, but this time McGrath peeled to the openside and went through the tackles of Ben Healy and Kilcoyne to make it 22-13, despite Sexton’s conversion miss.
Back came Munster, going to the corner themselves after Jack Conan played the ball when warned not to by Andrew Brace. Both drives were held up by a ferocious defence before there were audible strains of the The Fields in advance of a five-metre scrum.
Nearing the last 10, Munster had to score here, and everyone in the ground knew it, not least the Leinster pack. A huge, co-ordinated eight-man shove shunted Munster back and up before buckling. Home players and crowd alike celebrated as if the game was won, which it effectively was.
Despite hooker Scott Buckley playing out the endgame at hooker in place of the unlucky Jack O’Sullivan who was helped off, Munster continued to have a go, but they were wilting by the time Leinster went through some more high-tempo phases, carriers charging on to the ball, before Ringrose took a lovely line on to Ross Byrne’s flat pass and offloaded for Doris to classily put Russell over in the corner for the bonus-point try.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 22 mins: Carbery pen 0-3; 28: Penny try, Sexton con 7-0; 34: Carbery pen 7-6; (half-time 7-6); 46: L Coombes try, Carbery con 7-13; 50: Sheehan try, Sexton con 14-13; 58: Sexton pen 17-13; 62: McGrath try 22-13; 77: Russell try 27-13.
LEINSTER: Ciarán Frawley; Jimmy O’Brien, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Jamie Osborne; Jonathan Sexton (capt), Luke McGrath; Cian Healy, Dan Sheehan, Michael Ala’alatoa; Jason Jenkins, James Ryan; Max Deegan, Scott Penny, Caelan Doris.
Replacements: Rob Russell for Osborne (38 mins), Porter for Healy (48), Jack Conan for Deegan (54), Ross Byrne for Frawley (60), Ross Molony for Jenkins (67), Thomas Clarkson for Ala’alatoa (71), Nick McCarthy for McGrath (72), John McKee for Sheehan (79).
MUNSTER: Jack Crowley; Shane Daly, Dan Goggin, Rory Scannell, Liam Coombes; Joey Carbery, Conor Murray; Jeremy Loughman, Diarmuid Barron, Keynan Knox; Jean Kleyn, Tom Ahern; Jack O’Donoghue (capt), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Dave Kilcoyne for Hodnett (27-37 mins) and for Knox (62), Jack O’Sullivan for Kleyn (49), Ben Healy for Carbery, Patrick Campbell for L Coombes (both 54), Ruadhán Quinn for Hodnett (69), Scott Buckley for O’Sullivan (70), Paddy Patterson for Murray (71).
Not used: James French.
Sinbinned: Knox (27 mins), Kleyn (38).
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU).
